Pubblicazioni – Studi sul qui

Books — studi sul qui

Daniele Ietri and Eleonora Mastropietoro, with contributions by Tobias Boos, Daniela Salvucci, Paolo Martelli, Attila Faravelli, Dorothy Louise Zinn, Matteo Capobianco /Ufocinque, Melania Ruggini, Marco Boffi, Nicola Rainisio, Carlotta Colonna, and Alessio Zemoz

“Porto Tolle, Italy’s youngest land.” That’s how the town was introduced to us the first time we visited: new land, land that emerged as a result of the diversion of the Po River carried out by the Venetian Republic in the early 1600s, and later reclaimed land. A land divided into three parts by the river’s branches: cut in half by the Po di Venezia and bordered to the northwest by the Po di Maistra and to the southeast by the Po di Gnocca or della Donzella. Two permanent bridges and two others made of boats (one temporary) connect the three islands that make up the municipality. Eleven hamlets are scattered across these islands. Many numbers in this edition: eleven of us for six days to explore eleven hamlets located on three islands, some above and some below sea level. In the Delta region, this marks the fourth Season of Studies on the Here, a project for the in-depth mapping of Italian territories.

Year: 2025

Publisher: Mimesis Edizioni

Collection: Deep Maps/Mappe Profonde

Authors: Daniele Ietri, Eleonora Mastropietro, Alessio Zemoz

Abstract: We crossed the Line on foot, by boat and by other means. We wanted to work on the narrow strip that separates the lagoons and inland waters from the Adriatic Sea, stretching from the mouth of the Rhine to that of the Isonzo. We observed and depicted some aspects of what happens here, on the outer edge.
There are some common elements in the geography of the Line that we have observed, photographed and sometimes catalogued. A border between sea water and lands-that-are-not-lands. The sea water is that of the northern Adriatic, the lands-not-lands are the lagoons, deltas, estuaries, sands and dunes, as well as the infrastructure that one encounters arriving from the sea or from land, or walking along the sea or sailing along the coast and in the lagoons.
The Line sometimes appears as a clearly marked boundary, because the land is well consolidated by the seashore, and sometimes it is a very thin line, barely visible or almost invisible, because it changes with the weather and the tides or because it is little more than an artificial wall. The territories of the Line are a border and a margin. They are external rather than internal. Some are connected to the interior, to the countryside and cities behind them, while others are not connected at all, because they are islands, or because there is nothing to connect to or nothing to connect. In fact, inhabited, uninhabited and temporarily inhabited areas often alternate along the Line, together with different uses and spaces.

Year: 2024
Publisher: Mimesis Edizioni
Collection: Deep Maps/Mappe Profonde

Other publications

Authors: Tobias Boos, Daniele Ietri and Eleonora Mastropietro

Abstract: Deep mapping is a research method and working practice mainly developed by artists and scholars that promises to blur the boundaries between science and art as well as between experts and local populations. This article presents the methodological thoughts and results of a deep map project carried out in a rural municipality in the Alpine region of Valle d’Aosta, Italy. Following two years of preparation, in 2019 our research team, consisting of scientists and artists, took up residence in a house in the village for a week. Based on these deep mappers’ experiences and the results of the residence, it is argued that deep map practices can benefit from being combined with a research residence in the area under investigation, as well as by using a dialogic research design to develop a clear ethical and methodological stance. The research experiences further suggest that the creation of multimedia products for deep map projects can help to animate local populations and initiate continuous dialogues between residents and deep mappers. Finally, critical moments of the investigation design are highlighted, and theoretical gaps are addressed with a view to improving the design of future deep map projects.

Year: 2022
Rivista: The Professional Geographer
Number: Volume 74, Issue 3

Link to the article

Authors: Daniele Ietri, Dorothy Louise Zinn

Abstract: This article illustrates the potential of deep mapping as a methodological approach for representing so-called “marginal,” “peripheral,” or ‘internal’ areas. Since “internal areas” are often perceived as a policy problem, many of these areas have been described in a homogeneous way through territorial typologies defined from external, mainly urban, perspectives. In this essay, in fact, the authors do not use adjectives with negative connotations, but refer to “non-metropolitan” areas. The contribution of grassroots experts (even highly qualified ones) has been minimized or reduced to trivial content, such as that related to themes that are apparently attractive to the tourism market or, more generally, that look to the past in search of a supposed tradition or lost identity. Given the abstract nature and lack of concrete representations for many areas, the “Studi sul Qui” project used deep mapping as a method to approach a territory. It is an interdisciplinary and experimental fieldwork project based on the collaboration of researchers, professionals, and artists during a short period of residence. The project was first carried out in Valle d'Aosta in 2019, then in Basilicata in 2022, and will continue in other locations in the near future. Through an examination of the work carried out, this article focuses on the forms of representation that emerge from deep mapping and on the comparison with ethnographic research, better known in anthropology. The authors consider some limitations of this methodology, but at the same time confirm aspects of the approach that are stimulating for “internal” areas to create alternative representations and deep mapping as an opportunity to reflect on the present and develop territorial policies for the future.

Year: 2022
Rivista: Archivio di Etnografia
Number: Anno XVII, Issue 1
Pages: 43-64

Link to the article